The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not repre­ sent a commitment on the part of Native Instruments GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or record­ ed, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Native Instruments GmbH, herein­ after referred to as Native Instruments. All product and company names are ™ or ® trade­ marks of their respective owners.

TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 is the first fully integrated hardware and software DJ performance system created by the makers of TRAKTOR. TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 fuses the full-fea­ tured TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller with the state-of-the-art TRAKTOR PRO S4 software. The all-in-one TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 controller offers you an ergonomic DJ mixer, a built-in 24-bit/96 kHz audio interface, and a high-resolution control surface perfectly tail­ ored for TRAKTOR PRO S4. All controls needed for live performances now are at your fin­ gertips! — The TRAKTOR team at Native Instruments.

1.2 The TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Documentation

1.2.1 Where To Start?

TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 provides you with many information sources. The main sources are meant to be read in the following sequence:

1. Setup Guide

2. TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Manual (this document) and video tutorials

3. TRAKTOR PRO S4 Application Reference

Additionally, an overview poster and keyboard shortcut overview card will help you in your everyday work with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. Finally, the Controller Editor Reference Man­ ual deals specifically with the Controller Editor (see below).

Hereafter is a quick description of each of these documentation sources.

Some of these documents (Setup Guide, Overview Poster and Keyboard Shortcut Overview Card) are available in printed form in the product box. The whole documentation is also avail­ able in PDF format and located within the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 installation folder on your hard drive. You can also access these documents from the application’s Help menu.

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Welcome to the World of TRAKTOR KONTROL S4!

The TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Documentation

Your First Stop: the Setup Guide

A printed Setup Guide is included in the product box. It will guide you through the soft­

ware and hardware installation of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 system, from the very be­ ginning to the first sound coming through your speakers. This should be your first stop in learning TRAKTOR KONTROL S4.

First read the Setup Guide. Then proceed with this TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Manual to get more familiar with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4!

TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Manual After having read the Setup Guide and followed its instructions, your TRAKTOR KON­ TROL S4 system should be up and running. The next step is to read this TRAKTOR KON­ TROL S4 Manual. The TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Manual first gives you a practical ap­ proach to TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. Then, it provides you with a detailed reference of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller along with extra information (solving common issues, specifications, etc.). The next section will give you an overview of the manual con­ tent.

Video Tutorials The Native Instruments website provides you with a bunch of video tutorials that give you a hands-on approach to many sides of the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 workflow. To see them, point your favorite browser to following URL: http://www.native-instruments.com/s4tutori­ als.

TRAKTOR PRO S4 Application Reference For in-depth information on all features provided by the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software, please refer to the TRAKTOR PRO S4 Application Reference available as a PDF file in the Documentation subfolder of the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 installation folder.

Overview Poster

In

the product box, you will also find a double-sided overview poster depicting the top pan­

el

of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller: on one side, you will find an over­

view of the main areas and their functionality; on the other side, you will find a description

of every control element to be found on the Decks, the FX Units, the Loop Recorder and

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Welcome to the World of TRAKTOR KONTROL S4!

The TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Documentation

the rear and front panels of your controller. This poster can be used as a quick reference when using your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4, saving you from opening the manual each time you feel uncertain about a particular control element.

Keyboard Shortcut Overview Card A keyboard shortcut overview card is included in the product box. It gives you the dedicat­ ed keyboard mappings for the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software.

Controller Editor Reference Manual Beside of using your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller together with its dedi­ cated TRAKTOR PRO S4 software, you can also use it as a powerful and highly versatile MIDI controller to pilot any other MIDI-capable application or device. This is made possi­ ble by the Controller Editor software, a little application that allows you to precisely define all MIDI assignments for your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 controller. The Controller Editor should have been installed during the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 installation procedure. For more info on this, please refer to the Controller Editor Reference Manual available as a PDF file in the Documentation subfolder of the Controller Editor installation folder on your hard disk.

1.2.2 In This Manual

What you are reading now is the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Manual. This manual is struc­ tured as follows:

▪ The first part is this introduction.

▪ Chapter ↑2, TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Overview quickly introduces you to the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 user interface and its main areas, both on the hardware side and soft­ ware side.

▪ Chapter ↑3, Importing Your Music shows you how to import your own music into the powerful Track Collection of TRAKTOR PRO S4, so that you can use all TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 features with your own tracks.

▪ Chapter ↑4, Tutorials is a selection of tutorials focused on your controller. They will let you progressively discover how to use the various tools provided by TRAKTOR KON­ TROL S4. These practical examples will simplify the learning process and get you quickly started with computer-based DJing.

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Welcome to the World of TRAKTOR KONTROL S4!

The TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Documentation

▪ Chapter ↑5, Hardware Reference is an extensive reference of all hardware control ele­ ments to be found on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller. Whenever you are unsure about the functionality of a particular control element, you will find here all the necessary information.

▪ Chapter ↑6, Customizing TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 shows you how to customize TRAK­ TOR KONTROL S4 in order to make it fit your particular needs.

◦ Appendix C provides you with Quick Reference tables for all control elements on your controller. Should you have any doubt about a particular control element, you will find here a useful reminder!

1.2.3 Manual Conventions

This section introduces you to the signage and text highlighting used in this manual. This manual uses particular formatting to point out special facts and to warn you of potential issues. The icons introducing these notes let you see what kind of information is to be ex­ pected:

Whenever this exclamation mark icon appears, you should read the corresponding note care­ fully and follow the instructions and hints given there if applicable.

This lightbulb icon indicates that a note contains useful extra information. This information may often help you to solve a task more efficiently, but does not necessarily apply to the setup or operating system you are using; however, it's always worth a look.

Furthermore, the following formatting is used:

▪ Text appearing in (drop-down) menus (such as Open…, Save as… etc.) and paths to lo­ cations on your hard drive or other storage devices is printed in italics.

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Welcome to the World of TRAKTOR KONTROL S4!

System Requirements

▪ Text appearing elsewhere (labels of buttons, controls, text next to checkboxes etc.) is printed in blue. Whenever you see this formatting applied, you will find the same text appearing somewhere on the screen.

▪ Important names and concepts are printed in bold. ► Single instructions are introduced by this play button type arrow. → Results of actions are introduced by this smaller arrow.

Pet Names for Software and Hardware Throughout the documentation, we will refer to the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware con­ troller whether as “TRAKTOR KONTROL S4” or simply “S4.” Likewise, the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software will often be referred as “TRAKTOR PRO.” Hence, a sentence like “TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 is a highly integrated DJ system allowing you to control TRAKTOR PRO from your S4” shouldn’t sound weird to you.

1.3 System Requirements

You will find here the minimal configuration and the recommended configuration for use with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4, both on Windows and Mac systems.

This mini-chapter will quickly introduce you to TRAKTOR KONTROL S4’s main areas and concepts, both on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller and in the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software.

Take the time to read these few pages, as they will familiarize you with the way TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 works and let you catch sight of the power of its design. If you're familiar with importing music files in TRAKTOR, you can skip ↑3, Importing Your Music and start right away with the tutorials in chapter ↑4, Tutorials after having read this chapter.

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TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Overview

Fig. 2.1 – Hardware controller and software side by side

1. Decks: TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 provides you with four virtual Decks. The Decks are the place where tracks, samples and live input are played back. The Decks can be seen as the virtual equivalent to the good old vinyl or CD decks—just with a bunch of powerful additional features and the flexibility of a computer-based system. The two Decks on your S4 hardware controller allow you to control the four software Decks (labeled A, B,

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TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Overview

C and D) available in TRAKTOR PRO: The left Deck on your S4 can control Decks A and C in the software. The right Deck on your S4 can control Decks B and D in the soft­ ware.

2. FX Units: The signals coming from the Decks can be further processed by two FX Units located at the top of your hardware and software interface. You can even activate two additional FX Units in the software, allowing you to process each Deck individually. The FX Units give you access to the whole collection of high-quality FX included in TRAKTOR PRO: The left FX Unit on your S4 can control the left FX Unit(s) in the soft­ ware. The right FX Unit on your S4 can control the right FX Unit(s) in the software.

3. Mixer: Sitting in the middle of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 controller and of TRAK­ TOR PRO’s window, the Mixer receives on its four channels the audio signals coming from the four Decks described above. There is one channel for each Deck. As any DJ mixer, the Mixer’s purpose basically is to adjust the relative level of each channel, to control the channels’ frequency content, possibly feeding them into the FX Units be­ fore sending the overall result to the Main section at its top—and in the end, to gener­ ate the mix that is sent to your audience.

You will find a more detailed presentation at the beginning of chapter ↑5, Hardware Refer­ ence, followed by a thorough description of each control element to be found on your TRAK­ TOR KONTROL S4 controller. For an in-depth explanation of each and every functionality pro­ vided by the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software, please refer to the separate TRAKTOR PRO S4 Ap­ plication Reference, provided on the installation disc.

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Importing Your Music

What Is the Track Collection?

3 Importing Your Music

Most likely you already have a collection of music files on your computer. For those of you who can’t wait for mixing their own tracks, this chapter is for you! You will learn here how to quickly import your music into the powerful Track Collection of TRAKTOR.

If you prefer to start learning how to use TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 right away, skip this chapter and go on with the tutorials in chapter ↑4, Tutorials, which make use of the demo tracks pro­ vided with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. You can always come back here at a later point.

3.1 What Is the Track Collection?

The Track Collection (or simply “Collection”) represents the whole music that you have used, that you are using or that you plan to use in TRAKTOR PRO. Based on the music files on your computer, the Track Collection is just another way to dis­ play them. The Collection makes it easy to organize, tag, and prepare your tracks for being integrated into your mix.

Worth to note is that the Track Collection doesn’t care about the actual file structure on your hard disk, nor will it alter this structure in any way (as long as you don’t delete your files from within TRAKTOR PRO). The Track Collection is:

▪ A database storing numerous information about your music files.

▪ A convenient way to represent and search your music files, according to many of their characteristics (tags) like title, artist name, BPM, genre, length, etc.

▪ The place where TRAKTOR-specific information about your tracks is stored.

▪ The basis on which you can create your Playlists. The Track Collection is not:

► Right-click (Windows) or [Ctrl]+click (Mac OS X) on the Track Collection entry in the Browser Tree and choose Import Music Folders from the menu.

Fig. 3.1 – The contextual menu for the Track Collection, with the Import Music Folders entry selected.

By default this process imports all music files contained in the My Music folder of your op­ erating system.

TRAKTOR analyzes music for certain characteristics (BPM, etc.) when importing tracks for the first time. This function takes some time to process. Be sure to prepare the tracks you want to use in a DJ set beforehand if you want to use features such as synching or Auto Looping with them.

If you have stored tracks in other folders or on external storage devices, you can add these folders to the list of TRAKTOR Music Folders as follows:

1. Open Preferences > File Management.

2. Click Add… at the bottom of the Music Folders section.

3. Navigate to a folder you want to add.

4. Confirm with OK.

Repeat to add all of your Music Folders.

Subfolders are automatically included in the scan. Hence, you don’t need to add them to this list.

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Importing Your Music

Tracks Managed by iTunes

3.3 Tracks Managed by iTunes

If you have organized your music collection with iTunes, TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 offers direct access to your iTunes Library and your iTunes playlists.

3.3.1 Playing Tracks Managed by iTunes

You can browse your iTunes Library and playlists directly from your TRAKTOR KON­

TROL S4. By the way, this will be the opportunity to introduce you to browsing and loading from your hardware controller. For this, we will use following control elements:

▪ Any of the jog wheels:

▪ Any of the LOOP MOVE encoders, located below each jog wheel:

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Importing Your Music

Tracks Managed by iTunes

▪ The CUE buttons, located on each channel of the Mixer, and the BROWSE button in­ between:

4. Alternatively right-click (Windows) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac OS X) on the playlist and choose Import to Playlists in the contextual menu.

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Tutorials

Playing Your First Track

4

Tutorials

This chapter will guide you through the most common tasks that you will encounter during your work with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. The tutorials are workflow-oriented. They start with the simplest tasks and progressively lead you to more complex operation, helping you to get more and more familiar with your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 system. After reading this, you should have the basic know-how allowing you to mix with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4.

The tutorials presented here and in the following chapter make use of the included demo tracks, which were copied to your hard disk during the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 installation procedure. Thus, you can follow these tutorials even if you haven’t imported your own music yet into the Track Collection. For more info on how to import your music into the Collection, please refer to chapter ↑2, TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Overview above.

4.1 Playing Your First Track

This first tutorial will show you how to load and play a track, how to check the needed au­ dio outputs and how to quickly troubleshoot your system if no music can be heard.

Prerequisites

We assume here that your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 system is already up and running. If it’s not the case, please follow first the instructions in the separate Setup Guide and come back here when you’re done!

In case you already changed some settings in TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 before you start with these tutorials, we strongly recommend you to reset your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 system to the factory settings by doing the following:

1. In the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software, click the Help menu in the menu bar at the top of your screen (on Mac OS X) or at the top of the window (on Windows), and select Help >

Start Setup Wizard.

2. In the window that opens, just click Finish at the bottom right corner without touching anything else. → Your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 is now reset to the factory settings.

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Tutorials

Playing Your First Track

The tutorials presented here assume that TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 is in its default factory state. If it’s not the case, we cannot guarantee that you will experience what we describe here, and you might miss important things to know!

4.1.1 Quick Loading a Track

Let’s load the track “Techno 1” from the included demo tracks on to Deck A. Since Deck A is sitting in the left part of the TRAKTOR PRO window, we will use the left Deck on your S4. You can check this by looking at the left Deck’s display: you should see a lit blue indicator reading “DECK A”:

Fig. 4.1 – The Deck Display with a lit DECK A indicator

To select and load the track, we will use three control elements on your S4:

▪ Any of the two SHIFT buttons (one at the bottom of each Deck):

▪ The BROWSE encoder (in the top center of the Mixer):

▪ The left Deck’s LOAD button (above the jog wheel):

While looking at the TRAKTOR PRO window, do the following:

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Tutorials

Playing Your First Track

1. Hold SHIFT and turn the BROWSE encoder to select the Demo Tracks Favorite (Favorites are customizable shortcuts sitting at the top of the Browser in TRAKTOR PRO’s win­ dow). The tracks of the “Demo Tracks” Playlist appear below:

2. Release SHIFT and turn the BROWSE encoder to scroll through the Playlist and navi­ gate to the track Techno 1. 3. Once the track is highlighted, press the LOAD button on the left Deck to load that track on to Deck A. → The track is loaded. In TRAKTOR PRO, its waveform and info appear on Deck A:

The LOAD button on the right Deck of your S4 would have loaded the track on to Deck B in TRAKTOR PRO.

In addition to using the S4 to load a track, you can also drag and drop tracks from the Brows­ er or from a folder on your computer directly into one of TRAKTOR PRO’s Decks.

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Tutorials

Playing Your First Track

4.1.2 Playing the Track

► Once the track is loaded, simply press the PLAY button at the bottom of the left Deck:

→ The track starts playing. The PLAY button lights up and the waveform starts moving in TRAKTOR PRO.

Again, pressing the PLAY button on the right Deck would have started the playback on Deck

B.

To Each Deck Its Own Channel The audio playing on each Deck can be further shaped by the controls on the correspond­ ing channel of the Mixer. Since the track is loaded on Deck A, you can control its sound on channel A (showing a lit blue “A” letter):

Fig. 4.2 – The Channel A

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Tutorials

Playing Your First Track

At this point you will probably hear some audio coming through your speakers or PA. If not, please check the following section.

4.1.3 If You Don’t Hear the Track

If the track is playing on the Deck but the audio coming through your amplification system sounds too low, or if there is no sound at all, check the following:

▪ At the bottom of your S4, verify that the crossfader is moved all the way to the left:

▪ Above, the channel fader should be raised on channel A:

▪ The channel meter (the vertical bar of LEDs along the channel fader, see picture above) should show some activity. If not, check that the HI, MID, LOW and FILTER knobs higher up on that channel are set to center position; at the top of the channel, push the GAIN encoder once to reset the channel’s input gain to 0 dB.

▪ At the top center of the Mixer, the MAIN LEVEL knob should be turned at least part of the way to the right. You should see the MAIN LEVEL meters going up and down:

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Tutorials

Mixing In a Second Track

If not, at the top center of the TRAKTOR PRO window, check that the MAIN knob is raised:

If you see some activity on the MAIN LEVEL meters of your S4 but don’t hear any sound, then double-check the connection starting with the cable going from the S4’s Main Out­ puts to your PA.

4.2 Mixing In a Second Track

Now that you have learned how to quickly load and play tracks using the TRAKTOR KON­ TROL S4 (see the previous tutorial), let’s see how to mix in a second track. On the way, you will learn a few basic mixing tasks that every digital DJ needs to know: how to pre- listen tracks, synchronize tracks, start the playback at the right position, and mix the tracks together using the crossfader.

Prerequisites We assume here that you already followed the instructions in the previous tutorial (see ↑4.1, Playing Your First Track). TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 now is in the following state:

▪ The track “Techno 1” is loaded on Deck A. The track is playing and audible.

▪ The crossfader is all the way to the left.

4.2.1 Pre-listening a Second Track Directly from the Browser

Before we load another track, we will use TRAKTOR KONTROL S4’s Preview Player to pre- listen the track in the headphones directly from the Browser.

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Tutorials

Mixing In a Second Track

Fig. 4.3 – The PHONES socket and headphones controls on the front panel

1. If it’s not already done, plug in a pair of headphones to the PHONES socket on the front panel of your S4.

2. On the right of the PHONES socket, turn the CUE VOL knob fully down and put on your headphones.

3. Next to the PHONES socket, Turn the CUE MIX knob fully counter-clockwise.

4. On the top panel of your S4, turn the BROWSE encoder to select any track in the Play­ list.

5. Now press the BROWSE encoder. The selected track is loaded into the so-called Preview Player, as indicated by the Pre­ view Play icon in the Master Display (in the middle of your S4):

6. On the front panel, turn up the CUE VOL knob to a suitable level. You should hear the track playing in the Preview Player.

7. By turning the BROWSE encoder, you can seek through the track and pre-listen other parts of the track.

8. To unload the track from the Preview Player, press the BROWSE encoder again.

→ You get back to the list browsing. You can select another track for pre-listening or load the desired track on a Deck.

4.2.2 Loading and Playing the Second Track

We will choose the track “Techno 2” and load it on Deck B, as we did on Deck A in the previous tutorial:

1. Turn the BROWSE encoder to select the track Techno 2 in the Playlist.

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Tutorials

Mixing In a Second Track

2. Press the LOAD button on the right Deck to load the track on to Deck B. In the TRAKTOR PRO window, the track info and waveform appear on Deck B. 3. Press the PLAY button on the right Deck to start the playback. → The track starts playing. The PLAY button lights up and the waveform starts moving on TRAKTOR PRO’s Deck.

We don’t hear anything from Deck B through the speakers yet because we have set the crossfader on the S4 all the way to the left—our plan is to slowly mix in the track on Deck

B.

You can already give it a try: by slowly moving the crossfader to the right, you should hear the track on Deck B fade in, whereas the track on Deck A progressively fades out as you move the crossfader further to the right. Obviously, our mix is not satisfying at all yet: be­ fore mixing in the second track, we first have to beat-match it to the track playing on Deck A. So for now, pull the crossfader all the way back to the left.

If you don’t hear any sound coming from Deck B even with the crossfader all the way to the right, check the few troubleshooting guidelines in section ↑4.1.3, If You Don’t Hear the Track above.

4.2.3 Using Headphones to Prepare the Mix

From now on, let’s get used to preparing our mix with headphones until the next track (here on Deck B) is ready to be mixed in.

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Tutorials

Mixing In a Second Track

Fig. 4.4 – The CUE button on channel B

► On the top panel of the S4, press the CUE button on channel B. → The button lights up, indicating that Deck B is now sent to the Cue channel, which you will hear in your headphones. At any time, use the CUE MIX knob nearby to adjust the balance between the cued track (Deck B) and the main mix (Deck A) in your headphones: turn it counter-clockwise when you want to concentrate on the cued track; turn it clockwise when you want to hear more of the main mix. You are now ready to work on the track playing on Deck B without interfering with the main mix sent to your audience. Regardless of the mix that you’re hearing in your head­ phones, the main mix is still controlled by the crossfader and channel faders.

4.2.4 Synchronizing the Second Track

Before mixing in the track playing on Deck B, we will use TRAKTOR’s automatic Sync fea­ ture to adjust its tempo to that of Deck A. This is done in just one step via the SYNC but­ ton:

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Tutorials

Mixing In a Second Track

Fig. 4.5 – The SYNC button on the right Deck

► Press the SYNC button on the right Deck to synchronize its tempo and phase with those

of Deck A.

→ The SYNC button lights up. Now the two tracks are in perfect sync.

By slowly turning the CUE MIX knob on the front panel, you will hear the second track come into the mix in sync with Deck A.

Note that you should always adjust the tempo of the track that is not audible to the audience!

4.2.5 Setting a Cue Point as Starting Point

You will probably want to have more control over which particular part of the track you mix in. For example, most of the time, not only the tempos but also the downbeats of both tracks should match. Using a particular point in a track (for mixing in, triggering, etc.) is called “cueing.” TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 lets you mark points for cueing—we call them Cue Points. This notably allows you to re-use these points at a later stage, or in a later session.

Fig. 4.6 – The four unlit Hotcue buttons

► On the right Deck, whether or not the track is playing, simply press one of the unlit

Hotcue buttons on a downbeat—let’s say the Hotcue button 1.

→ The Hotcue button lights up in blue: you’ve just stored a Cue Point that you can return to simply by pressing the same Hotcue button again.

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Tutorials

Mixing In a Second Track

Fig. 4.7 – The first Hotcue button is now lit in blue.

Snapping to the Beats You don’t have to worry about dropping a Hotcue directly on a beat: by default, TRAKTOR will make sure this happens automatically. This is because the so-called Snap mode is on, as you can see by the lit SNAP indicator on the Master Display, located in the middle of the Mixer:

Fig. 4.8 – The SNAP button and indicator on the Master Display

With Snap mode on, any point you set in the track will snap to the closest beat, thus en­ suring that you get directly to that beat next time that you jump to that point.

Aligning the Tracks Aligning both tracks is straightforward:

1. Make sure that Deck B is playing (its PLAY button must be lit). 2. When you hear a downbeat in the other track, press the Hotcue button you just used to store the downbeat position. → The playback position on Deck B jumps to the stored Cue Point (as you can see in the TRAKTOR PRO window), and the playback continues from there. Both tracks now are per­ fectly aligned, ready to be mixed.

Sticking to the Beats Again, you don’t have to worry about pressing the lit Hotcue button exactly on the beat: by default, TRAKTOR will make sure that the beats of both tracks stick together and that the jump doesn’t ruin the beat matching. This is because the so-called Quantize mode is on, as you can see by the lit QUANT indicator on the Master Display (see picture above).

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Tutorials

Mixing In a Second Track

With Quantize mode on, whenever you jump through the track (e.g. by pressing a Hotcue button), the playback jumps to the nearest position that preserves the beat matching, thus ensuring that the current sync doesn’t get lost when you jump through the track.

4.2.6 Interlude: In Case the Left Track Is Over

The track “Techno 1” on Deck A has been playing since we started with the tutorials, and it might happen that the playback reaches the end of the track. In this case, just do the following:

► On the left Deck, press SHIFT + CUE to skip back to the beginning of the track. You can then resume from where you left off.

4.2.7 Mixing In the Track by Using the Channel EQ and Filter

Now would be a great time to audition some of TRAKTOR KONTROL S4’s EQs and filters:

Fig. 4.9 – The EQ and FILTER knobs on channel B

► Turn the EQ and FILTER knob on the channel B to hear the effect on the cued track.

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The EQs and filters are excellent tools for making adjustments to tracks before mixing them in so that you get the smoothest transition possible. The most common technique is to filter the bassline out of the incoming track—having 2 basslines running rarely sounds good. Do the following:

We will now carry out a first version of the mix “for real”. Thus, turn the CUE MIX knob fully

clockwise to hear the main mix in your headphones (or put off your phones and listen to your

mix coming through your amplification system).

→ You just did your first mix with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4!

4.2.8 Doing Everything by Hand

You can also do your mix manually instead of using TRAKTOR’s sync and cueing facilities.

Most probably, you won’t do everything by hand in your everyday DJ work. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to get familiar with the “handcrafted” way:

▪ It can be necessary when synching to a playing vinyl record or to the previous DJ.

▪ You can combine it with TRAKTOR’s advanced features, thus further developping your own mixing style. To show this, let’s mix a new track on Deck A with the one we just mixed in on Deck B.

From now on, the track on Deck B is “on air,” i.e. it is heard by your audience. Hence, we will now exclusively work on the left Deck, which controls Deck A in the software.

First Steps

1. First check that the crossfader is at full right.

2. With the track on Deck B still playing, load the track “House 1” onto Deck A (reminder:

turn the BROWSE encoder to select the track in the list, then push LOAD on the left Deck).

At first, it may help to select a track with a similar BPM.

3. Press PLAY on the left Deck to start the playback of the new track.

4. On the same Deck, make sure the SYNC button is off.

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Mixing In a Second Track

5. On the Mixer, deactivate the CUE button above channel B’s fader and activate that of channel A to hear the new track in the headphone mix (you might need to adjust the CUE MIX knob accordingly).

Adjusting the Tempo The tempo for each Deck can be manually controlled via the TEMPO fader:

Fig. 4.10 – Use the TEMPO fader to adjust the Deck’s tempo.

► Adjust the TEMPO fader on the left Deck until the track’s BPM either “sounds right,” or directly matches the value of the other track’s BPM, which is displayed at the top of Deck B in TRAKTOR PRO.

Manually Cueing with the Jog Wheel You can use the jog wheel to manually seek through the track and find a nice bring-in point:

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Fig. 4.11 – Use the jog wheel to manually seek through the track.

1. On the left Deck, press and spin the jog wheel’s top plate to seek through the track. (You can also fast seek through the track by holding the SHIFT button at the bottom of the Deck while spinning the jog wheel.) 2. Once you have found an interesting point for cueing (let’s say a downbeat), keep press­ ing the top plate and release it when a downbeat arrives in the other track. Deck A starts playing from that point. Note that you could also stop the playback (by pressing the PLAY button) before you seek an interesting point with the jog wheel. Once you have found the point, you can release the jog wheel—since the Deck is not playing, you won’t lose the point. When a downbeat arrives in the other track, press PLAY again on the left Deck.

Aligning the Beats In case you still hear a slight offset between both tracks, you can use the outer rim of the jog wheel to adjust the track’s phase and cancel the offset:

► On the left Deck, move the jog wheel’s outer rim in the desired direction to temporarily bend the tempo and adjust the phase in order to cancel any minor offset. → Your tracks now perfectly match.

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Adjusting Levels

Note that this can also be useful when using TRAKTOR’s Sync feature. Indeed, in some situa­ tions, the automatic beat detection might need a slight correction: for example, in tracks with unusual low frequency content, the beat “feeling” might occur slightly after the beat as de­ tected by TRAKTOR. If you couldn’t make it to manually correct the Beatgrid of your track be­ fore you go on stage, you can cancel the offset on the fly with the jog wheel’s outer rim.

Mixing In the New Track ► When you’re ready, you can bring the crossfader over from Deck B and slowly mix in the track in Deck A. → You just did your first handmade mix with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4! Don’t expect to be capable of manually matching beats right away, though—this requires intensive training and can’t be fully explained here in detail. Practice makes perfect!

4.3 Adjusting Levels

Before going any further, we would like you to be aware of how important it is to have your

mix at the right level. We provide you here with a few simple hints in order to get the best

sound out of your mix.

Even if this section might look a bit technical, please take the time to read these few pages, as they can save you a lot of trouble, especially in a live situation!

4.3.1 The Theory

By mixing, you blend together signals coming from different sources (and possibly process them on the way).

The basic rule is: you need to ensure that no signal is clipping, while simultaneously trying

to use the full dynamic range available. Just to keep it short, there are two reasons behind this:

▪ By using the full dynamic range available, you keep the noise level low relative to your mix. As a result, all the details of your music are better rendered.

▪ When a signal is clipping, it is not getting louder, just worst. The loud parts (typically the beats) are cut, which both reduces the dynamic range and introduces distortion in your mix. The speakers will suffer from this—and so will your audience! (Be also pre­ pared for some angered sound technician or club owner coming down on you.)

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Adjusting Levels

Hence, you should always make sure that your signals stay at levels that satisfy these two requirements.

4.3.2 The Practice

To assist you in adjusting levels, the Mixer of your S4 is equipped with various level me­ ters and controls. Each level meter consists of a bar of blue LEDs indicating the signal lev­ el, along with an orange LED at the top indicating the clipping.

Fig. 4.12 – A channel meter

The rule mentioned above can thus be translated as follows:

► Best practices when adjusting levels: Ensure that the displayed levels go high enough in the blue areas but don’t reach the orange LEDs, or only rarely.

Letting your levels go “in the red” and using signal clipping to let your mix sound dirtier is definitely not recommended: to do this, make use of the great FX selection of TRAKTOR KON­ TROL S4 instead!

Checking the Level on Each Channel Each channel on the Mixer provides you with a vertical channel meter next to the fader. This meter shows you the pre-fader level of the signal on that channel, i.e. the level of the signal before it is adjusted by the channel fader. To adjust this level, use the GAIN encod­ er at the very top of the channel:

Fig. 4.13 – A GAIN encoder sits at the top of each channel

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► Adjust the channel’s GAIN encoder so that the level displayed on the channel meter

stays in the upper part of the blue area without reaching the orange clipping LED. Note that the channel’s EQ and filter settings also affect the signal level, as well as the

possible FX Unit(s) it is assigned to. Hence, when modifying any of these, you might need to re-adjust the GAIN encoder accordingly.

Of course, the artistic side of your tracks should not be overlooked: for tracks with a variable average level over time (e.g. a track starting with a soft intro), you should consider the loudest parts of the track when adjusting the channel level.

Matching Levels Between Channels Moreover, in order to avoid any level jump when crossfading between two channels, the average channel levels should match:

► Before mixing in a cued channel, adjust its GAIN encoder so that its channel meter ac­

tivity roughly matches that of the channel currently on air.

TRAKTOR PRO already does this for you by automatically setting the level for each newly loaded track to a satisfying value. This so-called “Autogain” feature relies on the gain values extracted from your tracks. Nevertheless, depending on the particular EQ, filter and FX ap­ plied to the cued track, you might have to double-check the level consistency before you mix in the track. Moreover, what is important here is the average level of the specific part of the track that you’re about to mix in.

Checking the Main Level The signals coming from all channels are mixed together according to the relative levels set by the channel faders and by the crossfader. This mix is then sent from TRAK­ TOR PRO’s main output to the Main section:

Fig. 4.14 – The Main section on your S4

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In this section, the MAIN LEVEL meters show you the (left and right) overall level of your mix before it is adjusted by the MAIN LEVEL knob. These meters actually mirror the MAIN meter in the Header of TRAKTOR PRO. To adjust this level, use the MAIN knob right below in TRAKTOR PRO’s Master panel:

Fig. 4.15 – The MAIN meter and knob in TRAKTOR PRO

► Adjust the MAIN knob in TRAKTOR PRO’s Master panel so that the values on your S4’s MAIN LEVEL meters stay in the upper part of the blue areas without reaching the orange clipping LEDs.

By default, a limiter is enabled on TRAKTOR PRO’s main output. With this limiter enabled, the MAIN LEVEL meters’ clipping LEDs don’t indicate clipping anymore, but instead they in­ dicate when the limiter kicks in. While the limiter virtually cancels any distortion that might occur, the resulting contraction of the dynamic range, though, cannot be undone. Therefore, even with the limiter enabled, ensure that the clipping LEDs don’t light up too often!

When the orange clipping LEDs light up, turning down the MAIN LEVEL knob on your S4 is of no use: indeed, changing the level of the already distorted or shrinked signal coming from TRAKTOR PRO won’t repair it!

Should the level stay low on the MAIN LEVEL meters, check also the channel faders—they are probably set too low as well!

4.4 Looping and Cueing

Now that you have learned the basic mixing tasks, we will focus on one of TRAKTOR KON­ TROL S4’s great features: its looping facilities.

Prerequisites As always, we assume here that you already followed the instructions in the previous tuto­ rials. TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 now is in the following state:

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Looping and Cueing

▪ The track “House 1” is loaded on Deck A. The track is playing and audible.

▪ The crossfader is all the way to the left.

4.4.1 Playing with Loops

On your S4, each Deck is equipped with dedicated loop controls, located in the Loop sec­ tion, right under the Deck Display:

Fig. 4.16 – The Loop section, from left to right: LOOP MOVE encoder, LOOP IN and LOOP OUT buttons, and LOOP SIZE encoder.

Setting a Loop with a Predefined Size Let’s add a Loop to the track on Deck A.

Fig. 4.17 – The LOOP SIZE encoder

► To engage a loop on a playing track, just push down the LOOP SIZE encoder. → This will automatically add a loop at that position in the track. The loop size will correspond to the number on the Deck Display just above the LOOP SIZE encoder:

Fig. 4.18 – The Loop Size Display

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► To change the size of the Loop, just turn the same LOOP SIZE encoder until the display reads the number of beats you’d like the Loop to be.

Note that you can adjust the loop size either before or after you’ve set the Loop! When doing it beforehand, it will affect the next Loops you set.

Setting a Loop Manually You can also manually set loop start and loop end points. To do this, use the LOOP IN and LOOP OUT buttons in the Loop section:

Fig. 4.19 – The LOOP IN and LOOP OUT buttons

1. Press the LOOP IN button to set the Loop In Point. 2. Press the LOOP OUT button to set the Loop Out Point. As soon as you hit the LOOP OUT button, a Loop is set and the track will start looping. We already introduced the Snap mode in the previous tutorial (see ↑4.2.5, Setting a Cue Point as Starting Point). This mode also affects the Loop In and Loop Out Points, so that they will automatically be positioned directly on the beat.

Of course, you can also change the size of manually set Loops via the LOOP SIZE encoder as described above.

Moving a Loop You can also quickly move the active Loop across your track by using the LOOP MOVE en­ coder, at the left of the Loop section:

Fig. 4.20 – The LOOP MOVE encoder

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Looping and Cueing

► To move the Loop, turn the LOOP MOVE encoder.

The size of the move also corresponds to the loop size that is currently set, as displayed above the LOOP SIZE encoder.

Turning the LOOP MOVE encoder when there is no Loop currently active lets you jump back­ ward/forward through the track by the same loop size.

Storing a Loop In the previous tutorial, we looked at how to store Cue Points. This is as simple as pressing an unlit Hotcue button.

Fig. 4.21 – An unlit Hotcue button

This is actually true for Loops as well:

► To store the active Loop, press an unlit Hotcue button.

→ The Hotcue button lights up, this time in green: you’ve just stored a Loop that you can

return to simply by pressing the same Hotcue button again.

Fig. 4.22 – The same Hotcue button lit in green

Deactivating Looping If you want to deactivate the current Loop, do the following:

► To deactivate looping, push either of the LOOP MOVE or LOOP SIZE encoder.

→ The playback continues after the Loop.

By pushing the LOOP MOVE encoder when there is no Loop currently active, you activate looping: the next Loop in the track will be activated.

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Looping and Cueing

4.4.2 Using Hotcues

In this tutorial and in the previous one, we already used Hotcues to store Cue Points and Loops. We want to show you here a few more details on their use.

Fig. 4.23 – Hotcue buttons with various assignments

As already explained, when pressing an unlit Hotcue button, if there is no Loop active you store a Cue Point at the current playback position (the Hotcue button turns blue), and if there is a Loop active you store this Loop (the Hotcue button turns green). On the waveform of the software Deck, you can see that a line with the same color appears in the track at the corresponding position. Moreover, a little number at the top reminds you which button you should use to jump to that Cue Point or Loop:

Fig. 4.24 – A waveform with a Cue Point stored as Hotcue 2 and a Loop stored as Hotcue 3.

If you make a mistake, or just decide you no longer want a particular Hotcue, you can quickly clear it:

► To clear a Hotcue, hold down the SHIFT button and press the corresponding Hotcue button. → You can see that the button is no longer lit.

Creative Uses of Hotcues Hotcues aren’t just bookmarks to particular sections of a track—they can also be used for creative techniques such as remixing parts of a song, beat juggling effects, etc. As an example, we will show you here how you can quickly make use of a Loop stored in a Hotcue slot to introduce the track you’re about to mix in. By the way, this will allow us to sum up what we’ve learned until now.

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Using Samples in Your Mix

Provided that you carefully followed the instructions in the previous tutorials, the track “Techno 2” is still loaded on Deck B. Let’s say that the track on Deck A is on air (cross­ fader at full left) and you want to prepare the track on Deck B for mixing in:

1. Start the playback of the next track and send it to your headphones by activating the CUE button on the corresponding channel.

2. Find an interesting Loop near the beginning of the track by using the controls in the Loop section of the right Deck.

3. Once you have a nice Loop running, store it by pressing an unlit Hotcue button and leave it playing.

4. Now start to bring this Loop in your mix, for example by implementing the lowcut we explained in the previous tutorial (see ↑4.2.7, Mixing In the Track by Using the Channel EQ and Filter).

5. When you’re about to fade out the previous track completely, release the Loop on the new track, and you’re done.

Sample Decks are a great way to add one-shot or looped samples to your set, or capture loops for on-the-fly remixing. You can also use the Sample Decks to build new tracks on the fly, layering up to 8 clips on top of each other. Of course, Sample Decks can be entire­ ly controlled from your S4. Let’s see how this works.

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Using Samples in Your Mix

Prerequisites As always, we assume here that you already followed the instructions in the previous tuto­ rials. TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 now is in the following state:

▪ The track “Techno 2” is loaded on Deck B. The track is playing and audible. By the way, from now on we will use “Track Deck” to describe Decks that play tracks, so that we can easily distinguish Track Decks from Sample Decks. In TRAKTOR PRO, you can see that the two upper Decks (A and B) are Track Decks, whereas the two lower Decks (C and D) are Sample Decks.

▪ The Deck A is stopped (if it’s not the case, press the PLAY button on the left Deck).

▪ The crossfader is all the way to the right.

4.5.1 Loading a Sample from the Collection

You can load samples of 32 beats or less directly from your Track Collection. This will give us the opportunity to try the Browse mode on your S4 controller: this mode allows you to browse your whole computer for tracks and samples.

Fig. 4.26 – The BROWSE button

1. Push the BROWSE button in the middle of the S4 to enter Browse mode. The BROWSE button lights up. You can see all available targets flashing on your S4— among them, the four Sample Play buttons on each Deck.

3. Release SHIFT and turn the BROWSE encoder to select the sample “SFX Gold 1” in the Playlist.

4. On the left Deck, press one of the flashing Sample Play buttons (let’s say the first one) to load the sample into that particular slot:

5. Push the BROWSE button again to leave Browse mode.

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Using Samples in Your Mix

You can do this in the software too: simply drag and drop the sample from the list onto any sample slot.

The sample is now loaded and ready to play:

▪ In TRAKTOR PRO, the Sample Deck C now holds the sample in its first sample slot.

▪ On your S4, the corresponding Sample Play button is now dimmed, indicating that the sample slot holds a sample which is not audible (yet).

4.5.2 Triggering the Sample

Triggering the sample is as simple as pressing the dimmed Sample Play button:

1. Press the dimmed Sample Play button to trigger the sample.

2. Press the button again to stop the sample and skip back to start.

If you let the sample playing, it is played all the way once, then playback stops. This is because the sample is in One-shot mode, which is indicated by the little blue arrow in the top right corner of the sample slot in TRAKTOR PRO:

Fig. 4.27 – The sample "SFX Gold 1" in One-shot mode

When you click on this little blue arrow, it turns into a little green loop: the sample is now in Looped mode. In Looped mode, you can control its playback as follow:

1. Press the dimmed Sample Play button to start the playback. The sample is played in loop.

2. Press again the Sample Play button to mute/unmute the sample. The sample is muted/unmuted while the playback goes on.

3. Press and hold the Sample Play button for one second to stop the sample and skip back to start.

In case you don’t hear the playing (unmuted) sample, check that channel C’s fader is raised. Also, the crossfader must be set somewhere on the left. Indeed, all this happens on Deck C (which is a Sample Deck); hence, your sample’s signal is controlled by the channel C on the Mixer.

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Using Samples in Your Mix

4.5.3 Grabbing a Sample from a Track

We have seen how you can load samples directly into one of the Sample Decks using TRAKTOR’s Browser, but here’s an even cooler performance feature:

1. Check that the track “Techno 2” is still playing on the right Deck (Deck B in TRAK­ TOR PRO). If not, start its playback by pressing PLAY. If the playback has reached the end of the track, press SHIFT + CUE to skip back to start. 2. Set a Loop on this track using the controls in the Loop section. 3. On the same right Deck, press an unlit Sample Play button—let’s say the Sample Play button 2. → This automatically grabs the current Loop playing on Track Deck B and kicks it into the second sample slot of the Sample Deck D underneath:

Fig. 4.28 – We just exported the active Loop from Deck B to the 2nd sample slot on Deck D.

The loop is now silently playing in Sample Deck D. Furthermore, provided that SNAP is active, the loop is in perfect sync with the Track Deck B above, which is our current tempo reference—we say “tempo master” (for more info on tempo references, check the tutorial in section ↑4.8, Synchronization).

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The Sample Play button offers you the same playback controls as described above for Looped mode (press to unmute/mute the sample, press and hold to stop it and skip to start).

As previously described, you can switch the sample playback mode between Looped and One- shot mode by clicking on the little green loop / blue arrow in the top right corner of the sample slot in TRAKTOR PRO. The Sample Play button’s behavior changes accordingly (in One-shot mode, press to play/stop the sample).

Now you can load a different track onto Deck B, but you will still have the loop from the original song stored on the Sample Deck D to be retriggered at any time. It’s great for cap­ turing loops on the fly and using them to build an alternate mix.

If the Deck you copied from wasn’t playing a Loop when you pressed the Sample Play but­ ton, it will still grab audio from the source Deck, but will instead take it from the current playback position. The loop will automatically be cut to the length of the current loop size (as displayed on your S4).

► Grab a few samples from various places in the track on Deck B and play around to get

used to the basic playback controls that we described above (triggering, muting, etc.).

4.5.4 Unloading a Sample

If at any time you’d like to clear the contents in one of the slots of a Sample Deck, simply hold the SHIFT button and press the corresponding Sample Play button—and it’s gone. The Sample Play button turns back off.

4.5.5 Getting More Controls over the Samples

Once you have a sample loaded on one of the Sample Decks, you have many more controls

over the sample at your disposal. To access them, we need to switch the focus of the right Deck on your S4 to the lower Sample Deck D in TRAKTOR PRO:

► Press the DECK D button to switch the right Deck focus on Deck D.

→ The button lights up. All other elements on the right Deck now control the sample slots

on Deck D in TRAKTOR PRO. We won’t describe here all that you can do on your samples, but at least show you some of the available functions:

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▪ The Hotcue button under each Sample Play button will also play the same sample on the Deck, but only for as long as the button is held down. This is great for live perform­ ance because you can trigger a sample briefly, then let go off the button and it will stop and skip back to start. As a shortcut, if the sample is already playing, the Hotcue button will instantly retrigger the sample from the beginning.

▪ For any playing sample, the Hotcue button’s brightness follows the sample’s audio lev­ el.

Of course, the Sample Play button functionality that we described when the focus way on the upper Track Deck still work when the focus is on the lower Sample Deck!

One last comment about using Sample Decks: once you transfer a Loop into one of the sample slots, this Loop becomes part of your Collection and will be available to you at any time later simply by browsing the Collection—for example, you will find it in the All Samples node. The next tutorial will introduce you to TRAKTOR’s world-class effects.

You will find all details on how to use a Sample Deck in section ↑5.5, Using a Sample Deck.

4.6 Adding FX

Now that we have seen the basics of playing tracks and samples on the Decks and mixing them together, let’s see how to add effects—or “FX” in the TRAKTOR terminology. TRAKTOR has an extremely powerful effect section. By default, there are two different FX Units in TRAKTOR, which can be assigned to any of the Decks. These FX Units are direct­ ly mirrored on your S4 above each Deck:

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Fig. 4.29 – A FX Unit in TRAKTOR PRO

Fig. 4.30 – A FX Unit on the S4

Prerequisites As always, we assume here that you already followed the instructions in the previous tuto­ rials. TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 now is in the following state:

▪ The track “Techno 2” is loaded on Deck B. The track is playing and audible.

▪ The Deck A is stopped (if it’s not the case, press the PLAY button on the left Deck).

▪ The crossfader is all the way to the right.

4.6.1 Group Mode

First we’ll look at Group mode. This mode allows up to three different FX to be used simul­ taneously in a single FX Unit. We’ll focus here on the left FX Unit (labeled FX1) of your S4—but the same applies to the right FX Unit as well.

Fig. 4.31 – The MODE button

► Press the MODE button to put the unit into Group mode (the button must be lit). In TRAKTOR PRO, you see three different FX slots stacked on top of each other in the cor­ responding FX Unit (see picture above).

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4.6.2 Getting the FX Unit Ready

Let’s load the three default effects and activate the FX Unit:

1. Hold the SHIFT button and press the FX On button (at the far left of the FX Unit) to load the three default effects:

You now have the Delay, the Reverb, and the Filter loaded. 2. Choose which of the three loaded effects you want to activate by pressing the corre­ sponding FX Buttons 1-3. Of course, you can use all three effects together—simply acti­ vate all three buttons:

The FX Buttons light up to indicate the activated effects. 3. As additional step, turn the DRY/WET knob fully counter-clockwise—we will use this knob later to progressively bring in the effects:

→ Your FX Unit is now ready to process whatever you will send to it!

4.6.3 Assigning Decks to the FX Unit and Bringing In the FX

Now we need to assign this FX Unit to a Deck. To do this, we use the FX Assign buttons at the top of each channel on the Mixer, below the GAIN encoder:

You can assign other channels to the same FX Unit. For example, if you also want to apply these FX to the samples loaded on Deck C or D, simply press the FX Assign button “1” on the corresponding channel(s).

4.6.4 Controlling the FX Unit

You can control each FX in this FX Unit by turning the respective FX Knob 1-3:

Fig. 4.33 – The FX Knobs 1-3

► Play around with the FX Knobs 1-3 and listen to the result on the audio. You can also activate/deactivate each FX individually by pressing the corresponding FX Buttons 1-3 be­ low.

Changing the FX in a Slot You can load another FX in each slot. Let’s switch the first FX slot to the Gater:

1. Hold SHIFT and press the FX Button 1 repeatedly to scroll through all available FX until the Gater is selected in the first slot of the FX Unit 1 in TRAKTOR PRO.

2. If the first FX slot is currently deactivated, press the FX Button 1 to activate it (the but­ ton must be lit).

→ You hear the Gater cutting the audio at regular intervals.

You might want to deactivate the FX Buttons 2 and 3 in order to better hear how the Gater affects the audio.

Tempo-synchronized FX Now try the following:

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► Set the FX Knob 1 to various positions and listen to the resulting effect on the audio. → You’ll notice that the gating effect stays synchronized to the beat! Among other things, this can be very useful to temporarily emphasize the rhythm, e.g. by transitions between tracks.

You can check this by moving the TEMPO fader on the right Deck: by pulling the fader down­ wards, you hear the track playing faster… and the Gater following.

4.6.5 Single Mode

You can also switch each FX Unit to Single mode. Instead of multiple FX with one parame­ ter each, Single mode will give you one FX but with much more control over its parame­ ters. This time, we will do it on the right FX Unit (labeled FX2) of your S4:

1. Check that the FX Mode button (MODE) is off. If it’s on, press it to switch that FX Unit to Single mode.

2. Press SHIFT + FX On button for the FX Unit to load an FX. You can hold SHIFT de­ pressed and continue to press the FX On button to cycle through all the available FX until you see in the software one FX you’d like to try.

3. Press the same FX On button (this time without SHIFT) to turn on the FX Unit globally. The FX On button lights up.

4. On channel B, press the right FX Assign button (labeled “2”) to assign Deck B to this FX Unit as well. You can deactivate the left FX Assign button on that channel if you want to hear the new FX more distinctly.

The FX Knobs 1-3 and the FX Buttons 2 and 3 will give you access to each of the ad­ vanced parameters for that FX. At any time, you can press the FX Button 1 to reset the parameters to their default value. As for Group mode, the DRY/WET knob allows you to adjust the balance between the un­ processed (dry) signal and the processed (wet) signal.

Storing a Snapshot If you find yourself making the same settings to the FX each time and would like to set a default state for the FX parameters, simply do the following:

1. Adjust the FX Knobs and Buttons to your liking.

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2. Press SHIFT + MODE to store these settings as snapshot. → The next time you press the FX Button 1 with this FX loaded, its parameters will as­ sume the values you stored. It’s now time to check another new feature introduced in TRAKTOR KONTROL S4: the Loop Recorder.

4.7 Using the Loop Recorder

Earlier we saw how you can use Sample Decks as a means for triggering one-shot and looped samples. But this is how to work with existing material; the Loop Recorder, on the other hand, allows you to record new material on the fly.

Fig. 4.34 – The Loop Recorder on your S4

You could, for example, capture the signal from the microphone input on the S4, record your scratching in real time, or just record a few bars of a particular track while tweaking the FX settings.

Prerequisites One more time, we assume here that you already followed the instructions in the previous tutorials. TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 now is in the following state:

▪ The track “Techno 2” is still loaded on Deck B. The track is playing and audible (re­ member: if the track is over, press SHIFT + CUE on the right Deck to skip back to the beginning).

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▪ The Deck A is stopped (if it’s not the case, press the PLAY button on the left Deck).

▪ The crossfader is all the way to the right.

▪ FX Unit 2 is in Single mode and loaded with your favorite FX.

▪ None of the FX Units are assigned to channel B (both FX Assign button on channel B must be off).

4.7.1 Choosing a Source

The Loop Recorder can capture the input from several sources. You can choose the de­ sired source by going in the software and clicking on the Source menu—the drop-down menu directly under the Loop Recorder’s DRY/WET knob:

Fig. 4.35 – The Loop Recorder’s Source menu in TRAKTOR PRO

In this menu, you have following choices:

▪ Main will record TRAKTOR’s overall signal.

▪ Cue will record any channels whose Headphones Cue button is on.

▪ Aux will pick up the signal assigned to TRAKTOR’s Aux channel—typically the S4’s mi­ crophone input. For our example, we’ll capture the main output:

► Select Main in the Source menu.

Selecting the source is the only action that must be done in the software. Everything else will be done from your S4 controller.

4.7.2 Recording a Loop

Let’s now record a loop.

Adjusting the Loop Size Before we start recording, we need to specify the size of the loop we are going to record:

► Press the SIZE button on the S4 repeatedly to cycle through loop record sizes (in bars).

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Using the Loop Recorder

You can see the current loop size in the software at the top of the Loop Recorder. For our example, we’ll choose a loop of 4 bars:

Fig. 4.36 – The selected loop size is displayed in the software.

Starting the Recording Now do the following:

1. Cut the low and mid frequencies on channel B by turning the LOW and MID knobs fully

counter-clockwise.

2. Turn the DRY/WET knob of the Loop Recorder fully clockwise.

3. When you’re ready, press the REC button.

→ The Loop Recorder will punch in (REC button lit), automatically punch out according to the selected loop size (REC button back off), and then begin playing (PLAY button lit). That’s all there is to it! You can hear that our adjustments to the EQ are now part of the recording.

You’ll notice that the loop automatically started playing when it finished recording. If you don’t want this to happen, just push the PLAY button during recording. Now the loop will only trigger when you explicitly tell it to.

Playing with the Recorded Loop You can control the balance between the looped recording and the main output using the Loop Recorder’s DRY/WET knob:

Fig. 4.37 – The Loop Recorder’s DRY/WET knob

You can stop and start again the recorded loop by using the PLAY button. By doing this, you’ll notice the following:

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▪ The Loop Recorder always stays in sync with the Deck B, which is our current tempo reference—we say “tempo master” (for more info on tempo references, check the tuto­ rial in section ↑4.8, Synchronization).

▪ You don’t have to bother with the DRY/WET knob position when stopping the Loop Re­ corder: when you stop the Loop Recorder, the DRY/WET knob is automatically by­ passed, whatever its current position is. This ensures a seamless transition with the main signal at its original level.

Deleting the Loop and Trying Again If you don’t like what you hear and want to try again:

► Press the UNDO button when the Loop Recorder is stopped.

→ Now the recording has been cleared and you can try again. For example, you could try again to record a loop from the track on Deck B, this time while tweaking the FX loaded on the FX Unit 2:

1. Turn channel B’s EQ knobs back to neutral position.

2. Activate the FX Assign button “2” on channel B.

3. Press the REC button on the Loop Recorder and tweak the FX Knobs and buttons of the

FX Unit 2 as you see fit. Since the Loop Recorder records the audio (including any processing by the FX), you can create this way brand new loops from your existing tracks!

4.7.3

Overdubbing

You can also dub over the current recorded loop, building additional recorder layers on the fly. To do this:

1. Press the REC button while the Loop Recorder is already playing an existing loop, and press REC again to exit overdubbing. The new audio will then be added to the existing loop.

2. If you don’t like the overdub, just hit UNDO and it will clear your last overdub and you can try it again.

3. If you hit UNDO once more, it will act as a “redo” and bring back the overdub.

4. If you want to completely clear all the contents of the Loop Recorder, just press UNDO while the Loop Recorder is stopped.

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4.7.4 Further Uses of the Recorded Loop

One of the great things about the Loop Recorder is that you can use it to record loops that you can then transfer to the Sample Decks. To do this, we will use the Copy mode on the

S4:

1. Hold down the BROWSE button to enter Copy mode. You will see the PLAY button on the Loop Recorder start flashing, letting you know that it contains a loop ready to be copied.

2. While holding the BROWSE button, press the PLAY button on the Loop Recorder to se­ lect it as source.

3. Still holding the BROWSE button, press any flashing Sample Play button in the Sample

Decks to select it as target. → Now the loop has been stored in a sample slot, and you can record a new loop into the Loop Recorder if you like. Moreover, your loop now has access to all sample-related fea­ tures provided by the Sample Deck. Last but not least, as already mentioned, the loop is automatically added to your Collection!

4.8

Synchronization

It is now time to give a closer look at the advanced synchronization features offered by TRAKTOR. Once you will get more familiar with them, you will be able to use these power­ ful tools to build rich and complex mixes.

4.8.1 Introduction

In the previous tutorials, we have already seen TRAKTOR’s synchronization facilities many times in action:

▪ We synchronized a track to the previous one before we mixed it in (see ↑4.2, Mixing In a Second Track).

▪ We played with Loops and jumped to Cue Points whithout losing the beat (see ↑4.4, Looping and Cueing).

▪ We grabbed a sample from a track and it played in sync with the track (see ↑4.5, Using Samples in Your Mix).

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▪ We noticed that the Gater FX was synchronized to the track it was processing (see ↑4.6, Adding FX).

▪ We recorded a loop in the Loop Recorder and it played in sync with the track (see ↑4.7, Using the Loop Recorder).

The Tempo Master For all this to work, TRAKTOR needs both a tempo and beat reference it can synchronize things with. We call this the tempo master. The tempo master doesn’t have to be the same throughout your mix, but there is always one tempo master—and only one.

For example, by activating SYNC on a Track Deck, you say to TRAKTOR: “Synchronize the track on this Deck with the current tempo master.” Samples playing in Looped mode on a Sample Deck, as well as loops recorded in the Loop Recorder, always play in sync with the current tempo master.

In TRAKTOR, the Clock or any Track Deck can be the tempo master:

▪ TRAKTOR’s Clock can provide a tempo and a tick.

▪ A Track Deck can provide the tempo and the beats from the track that is currently playing.

The Beatgrid So that a Track Deck can provide reliable tempo and beats, these must be precisely deter­ mined in the loaded track—if not, the “reference” wouldn’t make any sense. Therefore, tracks must first be analyzed beforehand by TRAKTOR in order to determine the BPM as well as the position of the beats. The result of this analysis is the so-called Beatgrid. There is a specific Beatgrid for each of your tracks:

Fig. 4.38 – A track's waveform and its Beatgrid (indicated by the white vertical segments).

The track’s Beatgrid is not only important when a Track Deck is set as tempo master, but also when you want this Track Deck to be synchronized with the current tempo master, whichever it may be.

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The included demo tracks used in the tutorials were previously analyzed, therefore they al­ ready have a reliable Beatgrid. Before you can effectively use the synchronization facilities on your own tracks, you will have to analyze them. By default, this is done automatically when you import your music into the Track Collection. For more info on how to do this, see chapter ↑3, Importing Your Music. For all the details on the Beatgrid, the Analysis and the Track Col­ lection, please refer to the separate TRAKTOR PRO S4 Application Reference.

What Is Synched and What Is Not? Basically, samples playing in Looped mode and time-evolving FX are always automatically synched to the current tempo master. On the other hand, for each Track Deck you can decide whether to use the automatic Sync or not—for example if you want to beat match the track manually (see tutorial in ↑4.2, Mixing In a Second Track), or if you don’t want any beat matching at all for that track.

4.8.2 Who’s the Master?

You can build your mix using various Deck setups: you can mix with two Track Decks only, or make use of the lower Sample Decks (default setup), or even replace the Sample Decks with another two Track Decks. Depending on your preferred way of DJing and Deck setup, you will have different needs and perspectives for choosing your tempo master. We will describe here the various use cases.

Letting TRAKTOR Decide for You: the Auto Mode Let’s first give a look at TRAKTOR’s Clock:

► In TRAKTOR PRO, click on the metronome icon at the top left of the window to show the Clock panel:

Fig. 4.39 – The Clock panel in TRAKTOR PRO

In this Clock panel, you see the activated AUTO button, meaning that we are in Auto mode.

The Auto mode is activated by default, and this the mode we used in all the previous tutorials.

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With AUTO activated, TRAKTOR automatically switches the tempo master between Track Decks when needed—that is to say, when the Track Deck set as tempo master is stopped or when you load a new track onto it. This way, you don’t have to worry about setting the tempo master yourself.

Should there be no other Track Deck playing, the Clock would become the tempo master, thus keeping in sync any FX and/or looped samples still on air!

You can check this by doing the following:

1. Stop any playing Deck. On the Master Display of your S4, the MASTER button and indicator light up, indicating that the Clock currently is the tempo master:

2. Load two tracks on Deck A and B.

3. Start the playback on Deck A. Deck A now is the tempo master: the MASTER indicator in the Master Display turns back off, whereas the MASTER indicator on the left Deck Display lights up:

4. Start the playback on Deck B and beat match the track on Deck B with that on Deck A (whether manually or via automatic Sync).

5. Stop Deck A.

→ Deck B now is the tempo master: the MASTER indicator on the left Deck Display turns off, whereas that of the right Deck lights up:

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If you play sets with two Decks only, or if you prefer to do your beat matching manually, the Auto mode might be for you: it guarantees that each new track in the mix sets the tem­ po reference, and all FX and looped samples on Sample Decks will synchronize to it cor­ rectly—without being constrained to a single tempo. If you’d like to do a combination of manual and synched beat matching, again leave the AUTO button engaged, and enable the SYNC button for individual Decks on your S4 as needed:

▪ If SYNC is enabled, the new Deck inherits the tempo from the previous tempo master.

▪ If SYNC is disabled, the new track sets the current tempo master. Note that you can also manually set a particular Deck as tempo master:

► To manually set a Track Deck as tempo master, press SHIFT + SYNC on that Deck.

Using the Clock as Tempo Master If you run beat-mixed sets with more than 2 Decks, possibly along with synchronized loop­ ed samples, you should use the Clock as tempo master. The clock will always give you a solid tempo reference that will not change. Also, if you intend to only do beat-synced tran­ sitions, and would like to stay within the same general BPM range throughout your set, this is the ideal mode to use. To set it up, do as follows:

1. In TRAKTOR’s Clock panel, deactivate the AUTO button. 2. Set the Clock as tempo master, whether by activating the MASTER button in the Clock panel, or by pressing the MASTER button on the Master Display of your S4 (in the mid­ dle of the Mixer). The Clock panel should now looks like this:

The Master Display on your S4 should now look like this:

3. On your S4, activate SYNC on all Decks by pressing the respective SYNC buttons.

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This way, all Decks will instantly follow the Clock’s tempo. You can then set the Clock’s tempo to the tempo you intend to play your set via the numeric field to the right of the MASTER button (see picture above):

► Change the Clock’s tempo by clicking the displayed BPM value and dragging your mouse vertically while holding the mouse button depressed. → You can see the tempos on every Deck changing accordingly. As in Auto mode, you can change the tempo master at any time from your S4 by pressing SHIFT + SYNC on the desired Deck or by pressing MASTER again in the Master Display.

4.8.3 Other Useful Tools for Synching

Lastly, we would like to quickly mention here three other interesting features related to synchronization: the Snap and Quantize modes, and the Keylock function.

Snap and Quantize Modes As you probably remember, we already mentioned the Snap and Quantize modes in the tu­

torial in section ↑4.2, Mixing In a Second Track. They are other important tools that can help with synchronizing your tracks:

▪ The Snap mode ensures that any Loop or Cue Point you set in a track will snap to the closest beat.

▪ The Quantize mode ensures that any jump you make within the track will retain the phase sync—may you jump to a Loop, a Cue Point or a beat. Both Snap and Quantize modes can be enabled/disabled directly from your S4 by pressing the corresponding buttons in the Master Display, on either side of the MASTER button:

Depending on what you are about to do, you can decide to to enable or disable them at any time. Here are a few examples:

▪ If you want to set a Loop starting directly on a beat, activate SNAP and press the LOOP SIZE encoder around the desired beat.

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▪ On the contrary, should you wish to set a Cue Point at the beginning of some backing vocals that don’t necessarily start on the beat, deactivate SNAP before pressing an un­ lit Hotcue button.

▪ If you’re about to mix in a synched track and want the downbeats of both tracks to per­ fectly match, activate the QUANT button before you press PLAY (or some Hotcue but­ ton).

▪ On the other hand, if you want to jam around with a sample loaded on a Sample Deck and make some stutter-like effects by pressing the corresponding Hotcue button re­ peatedly, you might prefer to deactivate QUANT to create repetitions shorter than a beat.

▪ Etc.

Locking the Key of Your Tracks When synchronizing tracks, you alter their tempo, and consequently their pitch (or key). For small tempo adjustments, this is not really serious; but when the tempo is changed more frankly, the resulting pitch might get problematic: kick sounds would lose their pow­ er, vocals would sound silly, etc. To avoid this, TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 provides you with a Keylock feature that uncouples the tone and the tempo of a track:

1. Load two tracks with quite different tempos on Deck A and B. 2. Start the playback on both Decks and synchronize Deck B to Deck A. You can clearly hear how the tone of the track on Deck B changed. 3. Now press SHIFT + PLAY on the right Deck of your S4. This activates the Keylock on that Deck. → The tone of the track gets back to its original value, thus preserving most of its acoustic feeling. In the Deck Display, the KEYLOCK indicator lights up to remind you that the Key­ lock is active on that Deck:

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4.8.4 In Conclusion

There is no “correct” sync setting: it all depends on your DJ style and the kind of music your sets will consist of. Regardless of which setting you choose, you can see all necessary info on your S4 and pilot your DJ set accordingly.

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Areas and Concepts

5 Hardware Reference

This chapter details all you can do with your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 controller. After a quick introduction to the main areas on your S4 and to their underlying concepts, we will give a thorough description of each and every control element on your S4.

In this chapter, we describe actions on the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. Of course, every action on your S4 is instantly mirrored in TRAKTOR PRO! For an in-depth explanation of all features provided by the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software, please refer to the TRAKTOR PRO S4 Applica­ tion Reference.

Quick References You will find in ↑11, Appendix C – Quick References a series of Quick Reference tables summing up the basic functionality of each control element on your S4.

5.1 Areas and Concepts

This first section will give you an overview of TRAKTOR KONTROL S4’s main areas, both on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller and in the TRAKTOR PRO S4 soft­ ware. On the way, we will describe some important concepts that together build the TRAK­ TOR KONTROL S4 system.

You will continuously encounter these concepts in your work with TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. Previous chapter ↑4, Tutorials proposes a practical approach of how these concepts are imple­ mented.

5.1.1

Decks

TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 provides you with four virtual Decks. The Decks are the place where tracks, samples and live input are played back. The Decks can be seen as the virtu­ al equivalent to the good old vinyl or CD decks—just with a bunch of powerful additional features and the flexibility of a computer-based system.

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Fig. 5.1 – A Deck on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller

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Fig. 5.2 – Equivalent elements on the controlled Deck in TRAKTOR PRO

The two Decks on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 allow you to control the four software Decks (labeled A, B, C and D) available in TRAKTOR PRO S4:

▪ The left Deck on your S4 can control the upper Deck A and lower Deck C in the soft­ ware.

▪ The right Deck on your S4 can control the upper Deck B and lower Deck D in the soft­ ware. On your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 controller, each Deck provides you with a multi-function jog wheel with advanced transport functionality via its top plate (1) and outer rim (2), a TEMPO fader (3) to adjust the playback’s speed, a Deck Display (4) giving you various infor­ mation about the Deck’s state, a Loop section (5), Sample Play buttons (6) and Hotcue but­ tons (7) with different functionality according to the Deck type (Track Deck or Sample Deck, see below), the traditional PLAY and CUE buttons (8), along with a few other useful control elements. Of course, you will find equivalent features in the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software. Both left and right Decks also provide a SHIFT button (9): when held depressed, this button modifies the function of many other control elements (see section ↑5.3.2, SHIFT Buttons:

Accessing Secondary Functions for more info).

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Many control elements on the Decks can have their function customized in order to fit your specific needs and habits! For more info on this, please refer to chapter ↑6, Customizing TRAKTOR KONTROL S4.

Three Types of Audio Material – Three Deck Flavors Your Decks can handle three different types of audio material, each of them leading to a specific Deck flavor:

▪ Tracks: A track is a song stored in digital format stored on your hard disk. For instance, the traditional way-of-DJing consists in playing back a particular sequence of tracks—a so-called Playlist. Decks handling tracks are called Track Decks.

▪ Samples: A sample is a small piece of audio material. If its physical content does not really differ from a track’s content (it’s all about audio stored in digital format on your hard disk), the difference between them is both in their size and purpose: in general, a sample is much shorter than a track, and it is aimed to be added to (or blended into) your main mix. Notably, samples are perfect material for live remixing! Decks handling samples are called Sample Decks. Each Sample Deck provides you with four sample slots with a full set of sample-related features.

▪ Audio input: Whereas the two aforementioned audio material types are played back from your hard disk, Decks C and D can also be switched to Live Inputs, in which case they transfer audio signals coming from the outside world to TRAKTOR PRO’s audio proc­ essing and mixing facilities. Whether it’s a microphone, a turntable, a keyboard or any­ thing else, it gets directly inserted in TRAKTOR PRO’s signal flow.

Deck Configurations In TRAKTOR KONTROL S4, the upper Decks A and B are always Track Decks. The lower Decks C and D are Sample Decks by default, but you can switch them to Track Decks or Live Inputs—or even deactivate them. You will find a detailed description of every control element in the Decks in section ↑5.3, The Decks – Overview, ↑5.4, Using a Track Deck, and ↑5.5, Using a Sample Deck.

5.1.2

Mixer

The Mixer is sitting in the middle of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 controller and of TRAK­ TOR PRO’s window.

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Fig. 5.3 – The Mixer on the S4 controller and in TRAKTOR PRO

The Mixer receives on its four channels (1) the audio signals coming from the four Decks described above. There is one channel for each Deck. Hence, channels are labeled from A to D according to their corresponding Deck. As any DJ mixer, the Mixer’s purpose basically is to adjust the relative level of each chan­ nel, to control the channels’ frequency content, possibly feeding them into the FX Units (see section ↑5.1.3, FX Units below) before sending the overall result to the Main section (2)—and in the end, to generate the mix that is sent to your audience. Of course, the Mix­ er also provides you with a crossfader (3), which allows you to make seamless transitions between various channels. The Mixer of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 hardware controller has a few additional fea­ tures not to be found on usual DJ mixers, though. For example, it boards a BROWSE encod­ er (4) for quickly browsing your Playlist content, along with a set of indicators and switches in the Master Display (5) that give you quick access to vital information and op­ tions, and last but not least, the Loop Recorder (6), presented in more details below.

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You will find a detailed description of every control element on the Mixer in section ↑5.6, The Mixer. Mixer-related controls dealing with the physical inputs and outputs of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 are also to be found on the front and rear panels of your S4 (see section ↑5.1.5, Front and Rear Panels below).

5.1.3 FX Units

Adding effects to playing audio can tremendously expand the sonic possibilities of your mix. For that purpose, TRAKTOR PRO provides you with a great selection of high-quality FX. These FX can be loaded into the so-called FX Units.

Fig. 5.4 – The FX Unit 1 on the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4

Fig. 5.5 – The FX Unit 1 in TRAKTOR PRO

By default, two FX Units are active. Both FX Unit 1 and FX Unit 2 can be freely assigned to any of the channels A-D. On the hardware side, the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 also provides you with two FX Units (labeled FX1 and FX2 on your controller), which allow you to control the corresponding FX Units in the software. You will find a detailed description of every control element in the FX Units in section ↑5.7, The FX Units.

You can activate two additional FX Units in the Preferences of TRAKTOR PRO. Using four FX Units instead of two implies a few changes in the FX routing scheme. Please refer to section ↑6.3.3, Using Four FX Units for more info.

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5.1.4 Loop Recorder

The Loop Recorder is another powerful tool for live remixing your tracks.

Fig. 5.6 – The Loop Recorder on your S4

Fig. 5.7 – The Loop Recorder in TRAKTOR PRO

The Loop Recorder allows you to instantly create loops whether coming from the Mixer’s master signal, from a particular Deck or from a physical audio input. As soon as the loop is recorded, it is automatically triggered. You can then blend between the loop playing in the Loop Recorder and your main mix. Moreover, you can save the recorded loop to your hard disk or better, transfer it directly to any relevant location in TRAKTOR KONTROL S4—typ­ ically a sample slot on a Sample Deck! You will find a detailed description of every control element in the Loop Recorder in sec­ tion ↑5.8, The Loop Recorder.

5.1.5 Front and Rear Panels

The front and rear panel of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 contain controls and connectors related to the physical inputs and outputs of your controller. They are extensively described in section ↑5.10, The Rear Panel and ↑5.11, The Front Panel.

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5.2 Types of Control Elements

Your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 holds various types of control elements, which we will quickly describe here.

5.2.1

Buttons

Fig. 5.8 – A button on your S4

Buttons are spread everywhere over your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. They can have three fla­ vors:

▪ Some buttons trigger a function when they’re pressed (“trigger” action), e.g. the Hot­ cue buttons: hit one of the Hotcue buttons, this triggers the playback to continue from there.

▪ Some buttons switch to another state until they are pressed again (“toggle” action), e.g. the PLAY button: hit it once and it starts the playback, press it a second time and the playback stops.

▪ A few buttons activate a certain state for the time they are held depressed (“gate” or “hold” action). Notably, this is the case of the SHIFT buttons (see below). All buttons of your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 are equipped with LEDs that give you various info. Basically, the LED indicates the button’s current state, but its exact meaning varies for each button—for more info, please refer to the description of each button later in this reference chapter.

The SHIFT Buttons Instead of triggering any function themselves, the SHIFT buttons (one on each Deck) modify the behavior of other control elements on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4, giving you access to some secondary functions.

Knobs are rotary potentiometers with limited range—this is indicated by the limited white ring around them. By turning them, you can dial an absolute value for the parameter. The small white line on their top indicates the current value of the parameter within the de­ fined range. Depending on their purpose, most of them have a center detent at the middle (default) position, which is shown by the little notch on their ring.

5.2.3 Encoders

Fig. 5.10 – An encoder on your S4

Encoders are endless rotary potentiometers—this is indicated by the full white ring around them. By turning them, you can dial a value for the parameter relatively to its current val­ ue in the software. All encoders have a step-by-step movement. Additionally, encoders have a “push” action available: pushing the encoder can trigger some other function, alone or coupled with the “turn” action.

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Types of Control Elements

5.2.4 Jog Wheels

Fig. 5.11 – A jog wheel on your S4

Functionally speaking, the two jog wheels are quite similar to the encoders described

above: they have an endless rotary movement (here continuous) and an additional push ac­ tion available on their top plate. The main difference (beside their size) is that, on the jog wheel, the push movement is very tiny and is rather used for detecting whether you put your hand on the top plate or on the outer rim when spinning the jog wheel. Hence, this leads to two different rotation controls:

▪ You can spin the jog wheel’s outer rim.

▪ You can spin the jog wheel by (pressing and) turning its top plate.

This makes the jog wheel a versatile element that gives you a very precise control, e.g. for scratching, seeking in a track, or browsing in lists.

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5.2.5 Faders

Fig. 5.12 – A fader on your S4

Faders are linear control elements with limited range. All of them set absolute values, with the possible exception of the TEMPO faders (see ↑5.4.5, TEMPO Fader and Tempo Offset Buttons (OFFSET)).

5.2.6 Displays, Meters and Indicators

Fig. 5.13 – A Display with various indicators

Fig. 5.14 – A meter

Displays, indicators and meters are single- or multi-LED elements that provide you with re­ al-time feedback about various states and levels in the TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 system.

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5.2.7 Switches

Fig. 5.15 – A switch

Switches are only available on the rear panel. They control a few basic options needed when setting your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 up.

5.2.8 Sockets

Fig. 5.16 – The RCA main output sockets on the rear panel of your S4

Sockets are to be found on the rear and front panels only. They allow you to plug various types of cables (USB, audio, MIDI, etc.) into your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4.

5.3 The Decks – Overview

This section describes the general handling of the Decks on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. After an overview of the Deck structure and flavors in TRAKTOR KONTROL S4, we will de­ scribe three crucial Deck elements that keep their functionality, regardless of the Deck fla­ vor: the SHIFT buttons, the Deck Assign buttons and the Deck Display.

Sections ↑5.4, Using a Track Deck and ↑5.5, Using a Sample Deck will focus on the use of Track Decks and Sample Decks, respectively.

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The Decks – Overview

5.3.1 Deck Flavors and Structure

As described in section ↑5.1.1, Decks, your TRAKTOR Decks can have three different fla­

vors, depending on the type of audio material you want them to handle: Track Deck, Sam­ ple Deck or Live Input.

▪ Decks A and B always are Track Decks.

▪ Decks C and D are Sample Decks by default. They can be individually switched to Track Decks or Live Input, or simply disabled.

Choosing a particular flavor for your Decks must be made before you go on stage. Hence, this setting is only available in the Preferences of the software and cannot be changed from your S4. For more info on this setting and other important settings for your system, please refer to chapter ↑6, Customizing TRAKTOR KONTROL S4.

The Decks on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 The two Decks on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 allow you to control all four Decks in TRAKTOR PRO S4:

▪ Left Deck on your S4 can control both Decks on the left of the TRAKTOR PRO window:

upper Deck A and lower Deck C.

▪ Right Deck on your S4 can control both Decks on the right of the TRAKTOR PRO win­ dow: upper Deck B and lower Deck D. At any time, each S4 Deck controls a particular Deck in the software: we say that the focus of the S4 Deck is on that particular software Deck. You can switch the focus of a S4 Deck between both software Decks it can control (e.g. between A and C). This is done via the Deck Assign buttons, see section ↑5.3.3, Deck Assign Buttons: Switching Deck Focus be­ low. Depending on the flavor of your Decks in TRAKTOR PRO (Track Decks, Sample Decks or Live Input), the Deck’s control elements have different functions on your S4.

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Hardware Reference

The Decks – Overview

Moreover, when a lower Deck is a Sample Deck (which is the default), it has a specific rela­ tionship with the Track Deck above: the Sample Play buttons on the upper Track Deck allow you to quickly export a loop from the loaded track as a sample on the Sample Deck under­ neath—and this, without changing the Deck focus on your S4! You will find more info on the Sample Play buttons on a Track Deck in section ↑5.4, Using a Track Deck.

Using a Deck as Live Input When a Deck is switched to Live Input, the Deck simply forwards audio signals coming from your S4’s physical audio inputs to its corresponding channel on the Mixer. As a con­ sequence, all control elements for this Deck are deactivated. On your S4, you cannot put the focus on a software Deck working as Live Input. For an in-depth description of the Live Input, please refer to the separate TRAKTOR PRO S4 Application Reference.

Control via timecode vinyls/CDs (Scratch Control) is not available in TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 yet.

5.3.2 SHIFT Buttons: Accessing Secondary Functions

The SHIFT buttons have an overall purpose, regardless of the Deck flavor (Sample Deck, Track Deck or Live Input).

Fig. 5.17 – A SHIFT button

The SHIFT buttons (one on each S4 Deck) are a bit special: they act as “modifiers” for other control elements on your TRAKTOR KONTROL S4. In other terms, they allow you to access a secondary function when using other control elements simultaneously—much like the [Shift] key on your computer keyboard. ► To access the secondary function of any control element, hold SHIFT depressed when using that control element. For the Deck and FX Unit control elements, SHIFT operates locally, which means that you cannot use the SHIFT button on the opposite side of your S4 to access the secondary functions of a Deck or FX Unit.

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Hardware Reference

The Decks – Overview

On the Mixer, the SHIFT button on either side can be used to access the secondary func­ tions.

In the documentation, the secondary function will sometimes be referred as “Shift layer.”

On Track Decks, the SHIFT button additionally allows you to define the Deck tempo. See sec­ tion ↑5.4.11, SHIFT Button for more info.

5.3.3 Deck Assign Buttons: Switching Deck Focus

The Deck Assign buttons have an overall purpose, regardless of the Deck flavor (Sample Deck, Track Deck or Live Input).

Fig. 5.18 – Both Deck Assign buttons (one on each Deck)

The Deck Assign buttons (labeled DECK C on the left Deck and DECK D on the right Deck) allow you to switch the focus of your S4 Deck between the two Decks it can control in the TRAKTOR PRO software.

► On the left Deck, press DECK C to switch the focus between Deck A and Deck C.

► On the right Deck, press DECK D to switch the focus between Deck B and Deck D.